The college admission essay is one of the most important pieces of writing that you will create as a high school student. Although your GPA and your standardized test scores are very important, it is your essay that really helps to set you apart from the other applicants. The essay gives you the opportunity to explain to the admissions committee exactly why they should accept your application and admit you to their school. Because admission essays are often very open-ended, it is difficult to give concrete advice for every composition. However, there are certain general principles that hold true for the vast majority of them.

When you’re writing your college admission essay, think about what you would like to read if you were on an admissions committee. If you’re reading hundreds of essays, wouldn’t you like to read something that’s interesting, even entertaining? These are the applications that will stand out. If a committee member remembers your application after reading hundreds of others, you’ll have a much greater chance of getting accepted. Keep your writing interesting with uncommon vocabulary, short stories, and strong statements. Just don’t go overboard.

Above all, admissions committees want to find out what you will bring to their university. They’d like to see which unique qualities you’ll bring to the student body and how you can create a positive college experience for both yourself and others. They don’t want to read about your academic achievements; they can see these on your transcripts and your standardized test scores. When writing your college admission essay, don’t embellish things or make up details. After reading thousands of admission essays, committee members will be able to see this right away. Write both personally and truthfully about what makes you unique as an individual. Tell the committee about your goals and why you chose their school over all of the others that you could have applied to, and they will return the favor by judging your essay and your application fairly.

One of the greatest mistakes that can be made by a student applying to college is not sufficiently proofreading and editing their essay. If your essay contains grammatical or spelling errors, you can count on the committee rejecting it fairly quickly, as it reflects very badly on your preparation and effort. Make sure to look over your essay several times before you submit it and have at least two other people look at it as well. Ask them if your essay flows well or if it is disjointed. If you’re very serious about the colleges that you’re applying to, you may want to use a service such as Essay Edge to ensure that your work is well-written, easily readable, and engaging. Resist the temptation to use a service that will write your essay for you; this is another tactic that committee members will see through, especially if an interview is part of your application process.

While getting sick is never any fun, it can be a lot worse if it comes at a bad time. Some of the worst times include spring break, the day before a big test or presentation, and, worst of all, during finals week. Being sick during your finals can be very detrimental to your grades, as it’s difficult to study and concentrate on your tests. If you want to make sure that you stay healthy during finals, keep the following tips in mind.

Although you can pick up an infection at any time, you’re much more likely to if you’re stressed. The weeks leading up to finals are some of the most stressful of the year, increasing your chances of contracting an illness. During these weeks, then, it’s very important to keep your stress in check. Make sure to get outside every day for a little while, to take breaks from studying at regular intervals, to spend time with your friends, and above all, not to cram. Staying up really late studying for a test coming up the next day not only stresses you out, but also makes you tired, doubly increasing your chances of illness.

Make sure to get enough sleep. Just as too much stress weakens your immune system, so does a lack of sleep. Try to get eight hours every night; if you can’t get eight, then get as many as you can, and catch up on the weekends. If you’re really tired, you won’t be able to properly function, severely limiting your both your ability to stay healthy during finals and the effectiveness of your studying.

Pay attention to your diet. Diet is always important, but when you’re doing everything that you can to keep from getting sick, you should pay special attention to it. Make sure that you’re getting enough B and C vitamins; have at least three servings of fruits and vegetables each day. Taking multivitamins or supplements such as Airborne or cod liver oil may be effective in preventing the contraction of a cold.

Many students are unable to stay healthy during finals; because of this, you may be exposed to many people who are fighting an infection or have already developed a cold. It’s important to minimize the risk that these people pose to you by limiting your exposure. Try to avoid being very close to others, especially if you know that they are or have recently been ill. Being in close quarters with a large number of other people should be avoided. Places like libraries and coffee shops, unless you can maintain enough space between you and the others studying there, can be dangerous.

If you think that you may have caught something, check your symptoms on sites like WebMD. If you have symptoms indicating a common cold, take DayQuil or Tylenol Cold and get as much rest as possible. If your symptoms indicate something more serious, see a medical professional immediately. Most campuses have nurses or nurse practitioners onsite to help students with issues such as this.

Christmas can mean many different things to a college student; a break from class, seeing the family again, eating for free, sleeping in a real bed . . . the list goes on. One of the things that go along with Christmas is gift-giving. But how can you go about buying Christmas gifts on a student’s budget? It can be tough. You’re not going to buy iPhones for all of your friends, and your family certainly won’t be receiving a Blu-Ray player. The amount of advertising for expensive gifts around the holidays can be exasperating. Don’t give up hope, though; there are many gifts that are affordable to the average college student.

The first, and often least expensive, option is to make your own gifts. If you’re skilled in crafting, you can knit a large number of hats, scarves, or mittens in a reasonable amount of time, and all you’ll have to pay for is several colors of yarn. Personalized Christmas tree ornaments are another option; you can buy a big box of blank ornaments for less than $20. With colorful paint, some glitter, and a little bit of tinsel or holly, your blank ornament can be a one-of-a-kind gift for anyone on your list. You can find a list of creative gift ideas at eHow, including several that don’t require nearly as much skill as it takes to knit or paint.

Although it’s slightly cliché, giving framed pictures can be a great way to save money on Christmas gifts. Find a good picture of yourself (or your group of friends) and have it printed; you can print a lot of pictures for less than five bucks. Finding picture frames that are inexpensive can be slightly difficult, but IKEA is a good place to start looking. Plain wood and acrylic frames are usually pretty cheap. Picture holders, an alternative to frames, can be found for a couple dollars each; these make great desk decorations. You can also paint blank frames for a more personalized touch.

While the day after Thanksgiving is traditionally the biggest Christmas shopping day, you can adjust your schedule a bit and buy your gifts shortly after Christmas. A lot of stores try to clear out as much merchandise as they can immediately after Christmas, so you can find some great deals. Especially during an economic recession, this strategy can be good for your entire family or group of friends; by agreeing to exchange gifts closer to New Year’s than Christmas, everyone will save money. It also gives you an excuse to throw another party.

Buying Christmas gifts on a student’s budget doesn’t have to be difficult. You may just have to be a little more creative than usual. And if you’re really in dire financial straits and cant afford any of these options, you can trust that your family will sympathize and understand. Just spending time with them, as cheesy as it sounds, is one of the best gifts that you can give.

At most colleges, winter break or J-term is a period of about a month between semesters. This gives you four weeks without class—what are you going to do with it? While you certainly aren’t required to do anything during this period, it can be a lot of fun to make special plans with your family or friends.

One of the best things to do over winter break is to spend time with your family. If you’re a freshman, or possibly a sophomore, this may be the last thing you want to do, as you’re still enjoying your newly gained freedom. As you spend more time away from home, however, you’ll start to realize that being with your family isn’t nearly as bad as you remember it to be and that you enjoy spending time with them. Take advantage of this break to have fun with your parents and siblings.

If you’re not into staying home and relaxing, there are many more exciting ways to spend your break. One of the best things that you can do is to study abroad. Choose a class that you’ll enjoy in a country that you’ve wanted to visit. Courses abroad are often academically intense, but they experience (and the fun) makes the challenge worth it. You get to meet new people, travel to other countries, and experience the world outside of your comfort zone. Taking a class abroad over J-term is much cheaper (and easier) than spending an entire semester in another country. Organizations like Education First, The School for Field Studies, and Associated Colleges of the Midwest partner with many schools to offer international programs.

If you like to ski or snowboard, getting a large group of friends together and spending a weekend at a ski resort is another good way to spend your winter break. Whether you travel across the country, across the state, or across the street, renting a cabin or condo with 10 of your friends and skiing for several days is a blast. Most resorts offer group discounts on lift tickets and lodging, so you can get a good deal. If you go sometime during January, you can avoid the crowds and added costs of the holidays.

Conversely, if you’d rather get away from winter, you can go someplace warm. Instead of waiting for spring break to go somewhere tropical, you can go over winter break and save some money. This is especially good if you’re not into the crazy partying scene that spring break brings. Spend some time in the sun, relax, and rejuvenate for next semester.

There are many things to do over winter break that are more affordable than the above options. Getting a group of friends together for a weekly game of hockey or broomball can be just as exciting as going somewhere exotic. Spending a day sledding at your local hill is a lot of fun . . . and is both cheaper and safer than going to a mountain to ski. If you keep your mind open and be a little creative, you’ll find plenty of fun things to do over winter break. Just don’t think about school!

Standardized testing is, unfortunately, one of the necessary evils of going to college.  Very few colleges don’t require you to submit test results of some sort; by far the most common required are the ACT and SAT.  The ACT is more popular in the Midwest and the South, while East and West Coast high school students are more likely to take the SAT.  Both exams test the same sets of skills, although the format is slightly different.  Your high school GPA and your standardized test scores are two of the factors that colleges take into account when determining whether or not to admit a student.  Even though some people will tell you that your standardized test score isn’t as important as your application essay or your GPA, high scores will qualify you for more scholarship opportunities, so it’s important to be well-prepared when taking the ACT or SAT.

The ACT is divided into four sections; English, Math, Reading, and Science Reasoning.  You get a specified amount of time to complete each section, and all sections consist of multiple-choice questions.  You can take advantage of this fact if you don’t know the answer by training yourself to eliminate choices that you know are wrong before guessing.  If you can eliminate two wrong answers, you greatly increase your chances of guessing correctly.  The ACT is scored out of 36, with a score of 27 or 28 putting you approximately in the 90th percentile.  For more information on the ACT, you can visit the ACT, Inc. website.

The SAT only has three sections:  Critical Reading, Mathematics, and Writing, with each section being worth 800 points.  If you can score above 1950 or so, you’ll be in the top ten percent of students taking the test.  The SAT, like the ACT, is a multiple-choice test, but also includes a brief essay.  Check out the College Board site to learn more.

Although many students score well on these tests without studying, it can be advantageous to prepare yourself.  Companies like Kaplan and Princeton Review provide study materials that you can purchase and classes you can attend to ensure that you’re well-prepared.  If you plan on trying to get into a prestigious university, these programs may be worth seriously considering.  Buying a study book is pretty cheap; what have you got to lose?

One of the most important things to remember when taking the ACT or SAT is that everything on the test is something that you’ve learned before.  These tests are reviews of high school materials; so don’t freak out if you see something you don’t immediately recognize.  Chances are you just need to look at it a different way and you’ll remember that you know how to do it.  Staying calm, while difficult, is one of the most important test-taking strategies, and will help you throughout your college career.  Start practicing it now and you’ll have no problem when it comes time to take your standardized test.